Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill — New Clause 1 — Funding Counselling, Support and Research — Marriage and Civil Partnerships — 17 Jun 2020 at 18:00

The majority of MPs voted against funding counselling for those applying to end a marriage or civil partnership and against requiring the funding of support for such arrangements and research into their breakdown, and the prevention of their breakdown.

MPs were considering the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill^[1].

The proposed new clause rejected in this Bill was titled: Increased support for marriage and civil partnerships and stated:

• ‘(1) Section 22 of the Family Law Act 1996 (Funding for marriage support services) is amended as follows.
• (2) In subsection (1), for “may” substitute “must”.
• (3) In subsection (1)(a), at end insert “, both before and during a marriage”.
• (4) After subsection (1)(a) insert—
• “(aa) marriage counselling for any partners to a marriage where an application has been made to the court to dissolve the marriage under section 1 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973.”
• (5) After subsection (3) insert—
• “(4) Any reference to marriage or marital breakdown in this section also applies to civil partnerships.””

The rejected new clause was accompanied by the following explanatory statement from its proposer:

• This new clause would ensure increased support for marriages and new support for couples where an application for divorce has been made to the court.

The Bill^[2]:

• Replaced the requirement to provide evidence of conduct or separation facts with a new requirement to provide a statement of irretrievable breakdown.
• Removed the possibility of contesting the decision to divorce
• Introduced a minimum overall time-frame of six months (26 weeks) into the divorce process
• Introduced a new option of a joint application
• Updated terminology, for example replacing terms such as "decree nisi", "decree absolute" and "petitioner" with "conditional order", "final order" and "applicant".
• [1] Parliament's webpage on the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill, Parliament.uk
• [2] Explanatory notes to the divorce, dissolution and separation Bill, Policy background, Parliament.uk website

Debate in Parliament |